


Regret

by CarakinWonder



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarakinWonder/pseuds/CarakinWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the battle in New York City, Thor slowly comes to terms with something serious about his relationship with his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regret

It would never be the same. There wasn't any way that it could be. No matter if he could bring him back or not, nothing would be the same. 

Their relationship was broken, shattered into so very many pieces and then crushed into a fine powder., as silky as sand. 

And even if there was some possible way that they could repair it there would still be cracks, rifts, gaping spaces that could never be filled in. Spaces that, despite how much time he had spent with his brother, he had never noticed had been there all along.

\---

Thor stood on the balcony of Stark Tower, the place of his final fight with Loki. Was it wrong to wish there could be more? He and his brother had been sparring for years, since they could each raise a weapon, on equal footing though Thor despised that fact and Loki, for some reason, would never tell anyone.

He looked down, saw a small puddle of blood surrounding his feet. He glanced at his fingers. They were still crimson from his earlier stab wound. The gash had already healed but he hadn't had a moment to clean his fingers of the only remnants of his brother's attack upon himself.

That wasn't quite so for the city that sprawled out below him, New York City was a perfect picture of wreckage. Debris covering the ground, buildings smashed through and displaying gaping maws of glass and steel, the bodies of several of the gigantic aliens throw haphazardly across the tops of skyscrapers. The city would take much longer to heal than he. 

Loki had done this. His brother had done this. The one he trusted most had destroyed the planet he never thought he would hold so dear. 

Thor didn't understand. He didn't understand where all the hatred had come from. Where all the malice had come from. Where the need for vengeance had come from. How Loki could even take so much rage into his body and then expel it out upon the residents of this world baffled him. 

So much anger and power and destruction played out against a race he had never met but knew that Thor cared for. That had been Loki's only reasoning. That an the assumption that they were a weak species, easily subjugated and ripe for him to rule. But there were so many civilizations in the universes, Loki could have chosen any of them and had a much easier time of it. He had chosen this one though. The one Thor cared for. There was a reasoning in that. 

Loki hated Thor. When that had happened Thor wasn't entirely sure but he couldn't doubt the fact no matter how much he tried. He had come to destroy the world and people that Thor cared for, he had threatened the woman the Thor loved, he had even caused injury to Thor himself.

The evidence that continued to pile up was strong support.

Loki believed himself to have been wronged. By Thor, by Odin, by even the people of Asgard itself. “I remember living in your shadow.” Thor looked out over the destroyed skyline of the city and sighed. Those words hadn't really made their mark when his brother had first spoken them but he couldn't forget them now. 

His shadow. Thor knew exactly what he meant. If his exile to Earth had never occurred he wouldn't be able to understand them. If his exile had never happened possibly none of this would ever have occurred. 

Thor grimaced. He was glad that his father had struck him out of Asgard. The lesson he had been forced to learn was a lesson that he shouldn't have had to learn. He should have known it already. He should have been a better man, a better leader, a better brother. 

He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. He wished he could have been the man that could have kept his family from crumbling apart, maybe he would have been able to keep Loki out of the line of evil and at his side everlasting.

\---

There was a set of four large television screens placed on the wall of Tony Stark's large home, the home the Avengers had set up shop in temporarily much to Stark's chagrin. But he couldn't turn them away, for the moment they needed to stay together and some of them didn't even have homes to stay in. 

Thor watched the images on the screens. Bruce Banner had thoughtfully explained to him how to work the contraptions and Thor had found his way to a different news station on each of the screens.

It was just a few days, the coverage was still mostly concerned with the Avengers recent bout in New York. Footage of each of them fighting, taking down adversaries, and helping citizens evacuate after the alien invasion had been thoroughly squashed, filled each of the screens.

Then all of a sudden the tone completely changed. Each of the screens switched to be filled with Loki's sneering face. 

“Criminal.” 

“Fiend.” 

“Fanatic.”

The words hit Thor will full force, he could almost feel himself being pushed farther back into the plush couch he sat on. 

“Villain.” 

“Murderer.”

“Monster.” 

A large crash filled the room, followed closely after by the soft sound of glass tinkling against marble and the slight sound of popping electrical wires. Thor stood in front of the couch, his shoulders heaving as he struggled to bring in a solid breath, his right hand dripping a few drops of blood onto the plush beige rug. 

Footsteps from all directions echoed through the halls and then abruptly ceased as Tony, Bruce, and Natasha all arrived to the living room at the same time. Tony looked first at Thor, then the broken lamp on the floor, then the gaping hole that one of the flat screens now bore. He turned back to Thor. “So...what happened?” He questioned, his tone of voice careful, quiet. 

“I threw something at the television.” Thor stated simply.

Tony nodded vehemently. “Oh yes, I can see that. Care to tell me why?” He pushed, crossing his arms over his chest. Thor noticed Bruce and Natasha share a glance of confusion out of the corner of his eye. 

“The man..on the news channel...he..said that....he called Lo-” Thor stopped. His comrades would not understand his sudden outburst. They thought the same as the men and women on the television. 

“I'm very sorry for what I have done to your home, Stark. I will pay what reparations that I can so that you replace the things I have broken. Please accept my apology.” Thor said, dipping his head slightly as he turned to face Tony.

Tony blinked, stared at Thor for a long moment, then shook his head. “It's fine. You don't have to worry about that. One TV set isn't that big of a deal. I'll get it replaced later this week.” He told Thor.

“Are you sure that you're okay?” Bruce questioned, stepping forward slightly. Thor turned to him and nodded slowly. “Yes, I believe so. I'm sorry to have you troubled you all.”  
Bruce nodded and smiled softly. He turned and walked back down the hallway, Natasha following after him, one quick glance back at Thor before she turned the corner. Tony patted him on the shoulder, said again that it would be fine, and dissipated like the others. 

Thor sucked in a deep breath, and went to cleaning up the pieces of the lamp that he had broken. It'd had a glass mosaic shade that had shattered into many slivers when it hit the ground and he made care to pick up even the smallest of pieces. The shards would do little to hurt him but humans were so...fragile sometimes. 

After he was done he returned to the couch, settling back in. The remaining televisions had changed from the news to each a different sort of paid programming, a few wires pooling, and occasionally popping, out of the broken set.

These people, these people who knew nothing of his brother, called him such vicious things. Vicious things that Loki would not be without the influence of himself. His brother would be fine if Thor had just treated him better, acted kinder towards him. Everything would be fine if he had learned his lessons far sooner. 

He was the true villain.


End file.
